Joanne Strong
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This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
I am an experienced and accredited counsellor and psychotherapist and I work with both couples and individuals. I will help you to explore what is happening for you, and support you in finding ways to move forward. Counselling can help you to understand yourself, find new ways to cope, and enhance your relationships with others and with yourself. My training is Integrative which means I draw from a number of approaches, to meet and assist each individual I work with in the most suitable way. This might include:
- Exploring your current challenges, relationships, thoughts, feelings and emotions to gain new insight and perspectives
- Understanding and working with difficult feelings such as anxiety and depression
- Exploring past experiences, to understand how the past is holding you back
- Discovering habitual patterns: being able to 'step back' and see what loops and patterns you might be caught in. Awareness brings choice and the possibility of doing things differently, finding a way out of destructive or limiting patterns
- Reflecting on life experiences and finding personal meaning to help you move on and enter into life in a deeper, more satisfying way.
For me, the heart of counselling is about being alongside: helping you to look at and explore yourself, to help you connect with yourself, life and others at a deeper level.
Counselling can provide you with the space to explore and understand yourself at times when you need a supportive environment in which to work through whatever is happening in your life. Therapy can help you to develop new skills and strategies to help you cope and thrive.
Counselling can help with:
Relationship issues & family issues, anxiety and generalised anxiety disorder, depression or feeling sad, panic attacks, separation & divorce, postnatal issues including depression, abuse, redundancy, loss & bereavement, illness and coming to terms with a medical diagnosis and any issue which has left you feeling confused, overwhelmed or out of touch with yourself.
Initially, I suggest meeting for an hour, to explore what is prompting you to seek counselling, to understand what you are looking for and to see if we think we can work well together. If we decide to go ahead, I usually recommend 6-8 weekly sessions of 50 minutes, with the possibility of working longer term if that seems appropriate.
Training, qualifications & experience
I hold an MSc degree (with Distinction) in Therapeutic Counselling from the University of Greenwich, and a Diploma in Couples Counselling from CCPE. I have also received training in guiding individuals and groups in meditation and mindfulness. I am a registered and accredited member of the BACP (MBACP).
As well as private practice, I have worked in the NHS as a counsellor in a GP practice, working with individuals experiencing anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, relationship issues and bereavement/loss. I have also worked in the assessment team at a charitable service, working with potential clients to establish how best to meet their therapeutic needs.
I have experience of working both short term & long term, helping individuals and couples find insight and develop new strategies and life skills.
Member organisations
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred).
Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision.
Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training.
All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£65.00 per session
Free initial telephone session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
For one to one therapy for individuals I charge £65 for regular, weekly 50 minute sessions.
Initial meetings to explore working together are charged at £65 for 50 minutes.
Couple's sessions last 50 minutes and are charged at £90 per session.
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When I work
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I offer evening appointments up to 9pm as well as daytime appointments .
